I've just returned to New York from a ten-week stay in Brazil, where I found the cultural scene energized by a whirlwind of gallery openings, art fairs and special exhibitions. Lingering in my memory are several moments that together afford, I think, a nice mosaic view of Brazil right now.

Give Iran do Espírito Santo, say, a can of food from a kitchen shelf, a circular mirror, or a '50s ceiling lighting fixture, and he will begin to ruminate on the object's properties of shape and material, and then transform the formerly mundane thing into a sensually, minimal singularity.